I'm going to Disney WORLD!

[Gn2Dlnd]

And I ain't never been!

One of my (2) workers got an acting gig for a couple of weeks, and I decided it worked perfectly for me to finally take a vacation. I'll be arriving Sept. 13th, and leaving on the 27th, my birthday is on the 19th. I'll be staying within the RCI timeshare whatnot resort plan thingy, first week at the Sheraton, second week at Orange Lake. Both big-ass two bedroom suites with kitchens, so definitely some opportunities for Bitter East Coaster/Happy Local get-togethers!

I need tips and tricks, folks, I'm coming at this a total wirgin. I'll want to see all the hotels, eat at all the restaurants, visit Celebration and Harry Potterland, and not have a complete melt-down in the process. I probably need some guidance.

I'm going to try to make all my restaurant reservations for 4 guests, that way people can join me if they want. It should be easy to add one or two, and if it's just me the restaurant can deal.

I eagerly await your advice, O Oracle of the LoT.

[Snowflake]

Paging Flippyshark?

Gn2Dld, color me world of colorized jealous!

[Disneyphile]

Boma. Eat at Boma! (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

Oh, and ride Expedition Everest in the very front seat for your first time. It's worth the extra wait.

Try all the different Coke samples at Epcot, especially Beverly. Take a photo of yourself drinking the Beverly and post it for us.

Go check out the Country Bear Jamboree. It's the original version.

Take a ride on the People Mover.

Do not check out the Tiki Room Under New Management. It will make you want to burn the place down. But, if you do decide to do it - make that your first stop of the day so you can have fun memories to erase the horror that will haunt you in your dreams.

Dine at Liberty Tree Tavern at the Magic Kingdom. It's the Blue Bayou of WDW.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Fantastic!!!

Plan your day using the website. When I went, I wrote down what I wanted to see, on a little square of paper, in the order it's in in the park so I didn't spend all day criss-crossing the park and walking more than I wanted.

They had Coke samples at Epcot???? I didn't know that!

I second the recommendations regarding the Liberty Tree tavern and the Tiki Room. Make sure you see Illuminations at Epcot- it's pretty and there's fireworks. I'm told Everest is amazing in Animal Kingdom.

You're going to have so much fun!

[flippyshark]

Looking forward to meeting you, sir! I'll PM you soon.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Epcot, Epcot, Epcot. Plan to spend plenty of time just absorbing World Showcase.

At Islands of Adventure, they'll try to direct you left to get to Wizarding World. They're lying. Tell them you're going to ride The Cat in the Hat, and keep walking. Throw caution to the wind and drink as much butterbeer as you can; you will dream of it later and wish you had more. Buy some pumpkin juice to take home. Maybe it will be better than it was in July (with kids in school, etc) but for us, it was 2.5 hours in line for Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey (which is also the incredibly themed queue through Hogwarts.) It was 1.5 hours in line for food (no reservations allowed.) 1 hour in line for the back entrance to Ollivander's (no interactive show, just the register) and 1 hour in line for Honeyduke's. It was 102 and there was not much shade. And that was pretty much all we got done that day, heh.

[katiesue]

We just went for the first time in June. Make any ADR's you want asap. Allears.net has all the menus posted so you can see what's what.

You may want to look into the Tables in Wonderland card since you have an AP. There are only a couple of food discounts with your Premier Pass. Tables in Wonderland is an add on that may pay out for you - you'll have to run the math.

Also most of the shops don't have an AP discount. We waited and did one big shopping spree at World of Disney. At least the registers recognize your pass there and they don't need a lead to put in the discount.

Steph's recommendation of Earl of Sandwich was excellent. Great food for not a bad price. We went mid afternoon and there was no line at all.

With your Premier Pass you also get into the Disney Quest and water parks. We never made it to either of those.

Restaurants we mostly did counter service since my traveling companion only eats chicken nuggets. We did do the sit down buffet in Germany at Epcot. Can't really recommend it. There wasn't much of a variety of food and none of my favorites at least. You're better off at just the counter service. The pretzels were really good.

You can absolutely skip Stitch the Great Escape. They basically strap you in and blow chili farts in your face. It's gross.

The glass shop has an actual furnace in the back where they do glass blowing. We spent an hour or so in there during a massive thunderstorm.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Eat pastries in France in EPCOT.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Massive thunderstorm! Thanks, Katie, you reminded me. BRING RAIN GEAR. Bring back-up shoes. Bring your own poncho. Bring spare everything. Bring a raft for the flash floods. And know that people don't really flee from WDW in rain the way that they flee from DL.

[Disneyphile]

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. The rain can hit sudden, and the drop sizes are small bucket loads. One can go from dry to soaked in seconds. Literally.

If you check the camping supply section of Walmart or Target, you can get disposable emergency ponchos that fit in your pocket for about $1 each. They're thin, but do the trick well, and if you don't tear them, they can be reused a couple times.